CN111278679A

CN111278679A - Vehicle lighting control method and vehicle lighting control apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN111278679A
Application number: CN201780085790.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 北胜真弥; 芦田隆
Original assignee: Renault SAS
Current assignee: Renault SAS
Priority date: 2017-02-10
Filing date: 2017-02-10
Publication date: 2020-06-12
Also published as: WO2018146801A1

Abstract

The present invention includes a fog detection unit (11) configured to detect whether fog has occurred around an own vehicle. Further included is an illumination control unit (12) configured to set, when the occurrence of fog is detected by the fog detection unit (11), a light distribution to the front of a travel lane of the own vehicle as a low beam and a light distribution to an area adjacent to the travel lane as a high beam. Since the area in front of the driving lane of the host vehicle is set to a low beam during the occurrence of fog, it is possible to prevent light emitted from the headlight units (21R, 21L) from being diffusely reflected and dazzling the occupants of the vehicle.

Description

Vehicle lighting control method and vehicle lighting control apparatus

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a vehicle lighting control method and a vehicle lighting control apparatus for controlling light distribution of a lighting piece mounted in a vehicle.

Background

Patent document 1 discloses a fog detection unit provided in a vehicle, in which, if the occurrence of fog is detected, it is possible to prevent light emitted from a headlamp unit and reflected by fog from dazzling an occupant of the vehicle by switching the light distribution of the headlamp unit from a high beam to a low beam.

Reference list

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 2015-

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

However, since the conventional example disclosed in patent document 1 switches the light distribution of the entire headlamp unit from the high beam to the low beam when the occurrence of fog is detected, the light emitted from the headlamp unit becomes difficult to reach the far distance. For this reason, it becomes difficult for pedestrians around the lane in which the own vehicle is traveling and occupants of the vehicles traveling in the oncoming lanes to recognize the presence of the own vehicle until the own vehicle approaches a certain distance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle illumination control method and a vehicle illumination control apparatus to allow pedestrians around a host vehicle and occupants of an oncoming vehicle to easily recognize the presence of the host vehicle while suppressing dazzling of the occupants of the host vehicle at the time of occurrence of fog.

Solution to the problem

One aspect of the invention includes: determining whether fog occurs around the vehicle; and when it is determined that fog is occurring, setting a light distribution of the headlamp unit to a region in front of the host vehicle as a low beam, and setting a light distribution to a region adjacent to the front of the host vehicle to be farther than the low beam.

Advantageous effects of the invention

This aspect of the invention allows pedestrians around the own vehicle and occupants of the oncoming vehicles to easily recognize the presence of the own vehicle at the time of fog occurrence while suppressing dazzling of the occupants of the own vehicle.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle illumination control apparatus and its peripheral devices according to a first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2A is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of the headlamp unit.

Fig. 2B is an explanatory diagram showing an aspect of an extinguished state of LEDs in a region to become a low beam among respective LEDs included in the headlamp unit.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of a fog detection unit in the vehicle illumination control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the vehicle illumination control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5A is an explanatory view schematically showing an aspect of applying a low beam to an area in front of the own vehicle and applying a high beam to an area adjacent thereto when fog occurs.

Fig. 5B is an explanatory view schematically showing an aspect of applying a high beam to the entire area in front of the own vehicle when fog occurs.

Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a head lamp unit configured by including a head lamp and an Adaptive Driving beam system (Adaptive Driving beam adb).

Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle illumination control apparatus and its peripheral devices according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a vehicular illumination control apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

[ description of the first embodiment ]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle lighting control apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 1, the control device 100 is configured to control on/off and light distribution of the right and

left headlamp units

21R and 21L (illumination, headlamps) in response to a fog occurrence situation around the vehicle. The control device 100 includes a fog detection unit 11 configured to detect the presence or absence of fog, and an illumination control unit 12 (illumination control circuit) configured to control the

headlamp units

21R and 21L.

The lighting control circuit (lighting control unit 12) may be realized by means of a microcomputer including a CPU (central processing unit), a memory, and input and output units. A computer program (lighting control program) for causing the microcomputer to function as a lighting control circuit is installed in the microcomputer so as to be executed therein. Thus, the microcomputer functions as a plurality of information processing circuits (the lighting/extinguishing control unit 13, the lane detection unit 15) included in the illumination control circuit. Although an example of implementing the lighting control circuit by means of software is shown herein, it is naturally also possible to prepare special-purpose hardware as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or to prepare a conventional type of circuit component arranged to perform the functions described in the embodiments to constitute the lighting control circuit. Also, each of the information processing circuits (the lighting/extinction control unit 13, the lane detection unit 15) included in the illumination control circuit may be constituted by separate hardware. In addition, the illumination control circuit may also function as an Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for other controls related to the vehicle.

As shown in fig. 2, each of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L is an adaptive steering beam system (ADB) including a plurality of (e.g., 120 pieces of) LEDs arranged in a matrix form of a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. The

headlamp units

21R and 21L can control the number, position, and illuminance of LEDs to be turned on. Further, as another example of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L, for example, a projector type illuminator may also be employed therein.

Fig. 2A is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a configuration of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L, which is an example of LEDs arranged with 5 rows and 30 columns. Also, it is possible to switch between the high beam and the low beam by appropriately setting the illumination areas of the plurality of LEDs. The low beam corresponds to a light distribution that emits light only to a lower region of the field of view when the front is viewed from the own vehicle. The high beam corresponds to a light distribution for emitting light to a relatively upper region than the low beam (i.e., a light distribution in which the illuminated region is farther than the low beam). Therefore, in the case of low beam, light can be emitted to a region close to the own vehicle, and in the case of high beam, light can be emitted to a relatively distant region.

Fig. 2B shows an example of the on/off state of the LED, the LED shown in black indicates the off state, and the light emitting diode shown in white indicates the on state. As shown in fig. 2B, by setting on/off of the LEDs, the region R1 can be switched to the low beam, and the regions R2 and R3 can be switched to the high beam. Fig. 2 shows an example of LEDs arranged in 5 rows and 30 columns for simplicity of explanation, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

The lighting control unit 12 includes a lighting/extinguishing control unit 13 configured to individually control lighting/extinguishing states of a plurality of LEDs included in the

headlamp units

21R and 21L, and a lane detection unit 15 configured to recognize a white line on a road surface on which the vehicle is traveling based on an image captured by a camera 16 mounted in the vehicle, and thereby detect a lane in which the vehicle is traveling.

The fog detection unit 11 is configured to determine whether fog has occurred around the vehicle. Fig. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the fog detection unit 11. The fog detection unit 11 includes a first illuminance sensor 31 configured to detect illuminance of an area to which light emitted from the

headlamp units

21R and 21L is irradiated, and a second illuminance sensor 32 configured to detect illuminance of an area to which light emitted from the headlamp units is not irradiated. The fog detection unit 11 further includes a comparison control unit 33 configured to determine the presence or absence of fog based on a difference between the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor 31 and the illuminance detected by the second illuminance sensor 32. Hereinafter, the process of determining the presence or absence of the occurrence of the fog will be explained.

Initially, light is emitted toward the front of the vehicle by means of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L for a predetermined period of time. At this time, the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor 31 and the illuminance detected by the second illuminance sensor 32 are obtained, and the difference between them is calculated.

When fog has occurred around the vehicle, light emitted when the

headlamp units

21R and 21L are in the on state is diffusely reflected due to the fog and is detected by the first illuminance sensor 31. On the other hand, the light is not detected by the second illuminance sensor 32.

Therefore, the difference between the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor 31 and the illuminance detected by the second illuminance sensor 32 is calculated, and then if the difference is large, it is estimated that the diffuse reflection of light is large, and finally it can be determined that fog has occurred.

Although the present embodiment shows an example of detecting the occurrence of fog by means of the two

illuminance sensors

31 and 32, the present embodiment may also be configured to detect the occurrence of fog by means of another method(s). Also, the present embodiment may also be configured to detect the occurrence of fog by operating an operation switch (not shown) or the like when the occupant(s) monitoring the surrounding state determine that there is the occurrence of fog. In addition, it is also possible to obtain fog occurrence information transmitted from a weather station or a base station configured to provide weather information by means of a communication system (e.g., a smartphone or the like), and then determine that fog occurs based on the obtained information.

Also, it is also possible to analyze the image captured by the camera 16 and thereby detect the occurrence of fog, or it is possible to detect the occurrence of fog according to the operating state of the windshield wipers.

Then, when the vehicular illumination control apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment determines that fog has occurred, the vehicular illumination control apparatus 100 controls the light distribution of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L so as to be low beam with respect to the traveling lane of the own vehicle and so as to be high beam with respect to the lane (adjacent area) or the road shoulder (adjacent area) adjacent to the traveling lane of the own vehicle. In this way, even in the case where fog occurs (in a state where other vehicles or pedestrians cannot easily notice the own vehicle), it is possible to make it easier for occupants and pedestrians in other vehicles to notice the presence of the own vehicle. In addition, the influence of diffuse reflection of light emitted toward the front of the own vehicle can be avoided.

Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the vehicle illumination control apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, which is configured as described above, will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in fig. 4. This process is performed by the lighting device controlling unit 12 shown in fig. 1.

First, in step S11, the lighting device control unit 12 obtains speed data from an ECU (not shown) or the like mounted in the vehicle. Next, the illumination control unit 12 determines whether the vehicle speed Vs of the vehicle is in the range of 25 to 60 km/h. If the vehicle is not running at the above-described speed of 25 to 60km/h (i.e., no in step S11), the

headlamp units

21R and 21L are controlled to normal light distribution in step S15 instead of controlling the

headlamp units

21R and 21L based on the occurrence of fog.

That is, when the running speed is equal to or less than 25km/h, it can be estimated that the vehicle is considered to be running at a low speed, and therefore there is no problem even if the oncoming vehicle or the pedestrian does not notice the presence of the own vehicle, and therefore the light distribution control during occurrence of fog is not performed. Also, when the traveling speed is equal to or greater than 60km/h, it can be estimated that smooth traveling is possible even if the light distribution control during fog occurrence is not performed, so the light distribution control during fog occurrence is not performed. The normal light distribution described herein corresponds to a light distribution in which a high beam is applied to an area in front of the own vehicle and a low beam is applied to other areas, for example, during night driving.

On the other hand, when the own vehicle is traveling at a speed of 25 to 60km/h (i.e., the case of yes in step S11), the lighting control unit 12 determines in step S12 whether the fog detection unit 11 recognizes that fog is occurring. As described above, when it is determined that fog has occurred, the difference between the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor 31 and the illuminance detected by the second illuminance sensor 32 shown in fig. 2 is calculated, and whether fog has occurred is determined based on the magnitude of the difference.

If fog does not occur (i.e., no in step S12), in step S15, the lighting control unit 12 sets the

headlamp units

21R and 21L to normal light distribution.

If fog has occurred (i.e., yes in step S12), in step S13, the lighting control unit 12 identifies the traveling lane of the host vehicle detected by the lane detection unit 15, and in step S14, sets the region of the traveling lane ahead of the host vehicle as a low beam, and sets the region of the adjacent lane and the road shoulder region, each of which is adjacent to the traveling lane, as a high beam. The "adjacent lane" described herein corresponds to an oncoming lane, such as in the case of an oncoming traffic lane in a dual lane. Further, in the case where there are a plurality of lanes on each side (e.g., two lanes on each side), the "adjacent lane" corresponds to a lane that is traveling in the same direction as the host vehicle (e.g., a passing lane).

Therefore, for example, as shown in fig. 5A, the high beam is applied only to the shoulder area and the adjacent lane area of the traveling road, and the low beam is applied to the area ahead of the own vehicle. More specifically, as shown in fig. 5A, light is emitted for the reachable range Q2 of up to low light, and light is also emitted for the high-beam regions Q1 and Q2. Also, the fog lamp installed in the general vehicle emits light up to the line q 1.

On the other hand, in normal light distribution by means of high beams, since light is emitted to the up-to-high beam region Q3, which is a region higher than the reachable range Q2 of low beams in front of the own vehicle, as shown in fig. 5B, the emitted light may be reflected on fog, and thus may dazzle the occupants of the vehicle. However, according to the present embodiment, such glare can be avoided.

In this manner, according to the vehicle illumination control apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment,

since the area of the traveling lane in front of the host vehicle is set to the low beam if fog has occurred around the host vehicle, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of a problem in which the light emitted from the

headlamp units

21R and 21L is diffusely reflected on the fog and thus the front of the host vehicle is difficult to see. Further, since the adjacent lane and the shoulder can be set to the high beam, it is possible to make, for example, the pedestrian(s) walking on the shoulder quickly notice the presence of the own vehicle. Similarly, the vehicle(s) traveling in the adjacent lane may be made quickly aware of the presence of the own vehicle.

Therefore, if the adjacent lane is an oncoming lane (for example, as two-lane two-way traffic), it is possible to make an oncoming vehicle traveling in the oncoming lane recognize the presence of the own vehicle by setting the area of the oncoming lane to the high beam. Further, if the adjacent lane is a passing lane (such as two lanes on each side), the vehicle traveling on this lane may be made aware of the presence of the own vehicle.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the vehicle speed Vs is obtained, and if the vehicle speed Vs is greater than the lower limit speed (e.g., 25km/m) and less than the upper limit speed (e.g., 60km/m), the light distribution control during the occurrence of fog is implemented. Therefore, since the light distribution control during the occurrence of fog is not performed while traveling at or below the lower limit speed, unnecessary control can be avoided. Similarly, since the light distribution control during the occurrence of fog is not executed when the vehicle speed at which the vehicle is traveling is equal to or greater than the upper limit speed, unnecessary control can be avoided. In the present embodiment, although the lower limit speed and the upper and lower speeds of the vehicle speed Vs are set, a configuration may be adopted in which any one of the lower limit speed or the upper limit speed is set.

[ description of a first modified example of the first embodiment ]

If the road on which the vehicle travels is a curved road, the front of the vehicle is not always the area ahead of the own vehicle lane. For example, if the traveling lane is curved to the left, the front of the vehicle may become an adjacent lane. Thus, if this region is set to a low beam, no high beam is emitted to the vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane, and therefore the vehicle on the adjacent lane will become difficult to notice the presence of the own vehicle.

In the first modified example, the traveling direction of the own vehicle is estimated by detecting the steering angle of the vehicle, the front region is set according to this traveling direction, and light is emitted so that the low beam is applied to this front region. In addition, the light is emitted so that a high beam is applied to the periphery of the front area. Therefore, it is possible to safely emit high beams to the vehicle(s) traveling in the adjacent lane, and thereby the vehicle traveling in the adjacent lane can notice the presence of the own vehicle.

In addition to the method using the steering angle, for example, a map of a traveling road on which the own vehicle travels may be obtained from map data, and a curved road of a lane may be recognized from the obtained map. Therefore, it is also possible to set the region to which the low beam is applied according to this recognition result.

[ description of second modified example of first embodiment ]

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, an example of controlling the high beam and the low beam by means of the adaptive driving light system (ADB) having a plurality of LEDs as the

headlamp units

21R and 21L has been described. A second modified example will now describe an example of emitting light onto the front of a vehicle by means of a light projector. The number of pixels of the light projector is, for example, about one million pixels, and light can be emitted toward the front of the vehicle by projecting light.

More specifically, since the projection area can be appropriately set by the projector control unit, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be achieved by applying a low beam to an area in front of the lane on which the host vehicle is traveling, and applying a high beam to the adjacent lane and the shoulder.

[ third modified example of the first embodiment ]

Although the above-mentioned first embodiment explains the configuration including the

headlamp units

21R and 21L constituted by a plurality of LEDs, the third modified example explains the configuration as shown in fig. 6 in which both a lighting member (such as a halogen lamp or the like) for emitting light to the front of the vehicle and an ADB (22) constituted by a plurality of LEDs are mounted. Then, in a normal state where no fog occurs, light is emitted to the front of the vehicle using a lamp for illumination, and only when fog occurs, light distribution control by the ADB (22) is performed.

Also in this configuration, since the light distribution can be controlled by using the ADB during the occurrence of fog, the same effect as that of the above-mentioned first embodiment can be produced.

[ description of the second embodiment ]

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be explained. Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle lighting control apparatus according to a second embodiment. The control apparatus 101 shown in fig. 7 is different from the control apparatus 100 shown in the above-mentioned first embodiment in that the illumination control unit 12a includes the illuminance control unit 14. The illuminance control unit 14 is configured to control the illuminance of each LED mounted in each of the

headlamp units

21R and 21L. The fog detection means 11 has a function of detecting not only the presence or absence of fog but also the concentration of fog.

In the second embodiment, if it is determined that fog has occurred, the fog concentration is further detected, and the higher the fog concentration is, the higher the illuminance of the LED that is turned on as a high beam is set.

Hereinafter, a processing procedure of the vehicle illumination control apparatus 101 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in fig. 7. This process is performed by the lighting device controlling unit 12a shown in fig. 7.

First, in step S31, the lighting device control unit 12 obtains speed data from an ECU (not shown) or the like mounted in the vehicle. Next, the illumination control unit 12 determines whether the vehicle speed Vs of the vehicle is in the range of 25 to 60 km/h. If the vehicle is not running at the above-described speed of 25 to 60km/h (i.e., no in step S31), the

headlamp units

21R and 21L are controlled to normal light distribution in step S37 instead of controlling the

headlamp units

21R and 21L based on the occurrence of fog.

On the other hand, when the own vehicle is traveling at a speed of 25 to 60km/h (i.e., the case of yes in step S31), the light-on/off control unit 13 determines in step S32 whether the fog detection unit 11 recognizes that fog is occurring.

If fog does not occur (i.e., no in step S32), in step S37, the lighting control unit 12 sets the

headlamp units

21R and 21L to normal light distribution. The normal light distribution described herein corresponds to a light distribution in which a high beam is applied to an area in front of the own vehicle and a low beam is applied to other areas, for example, during night driving.

Also, if fog has occurred (i.e., yes in step S32), the lighting device controlling unit 12a obtains the fog density in step S33. With respect to the fog density, the difference between the illuminance detected by the first illuminance sensor 31 and the illuminance detected by the second illuminance sensor 32 shown in fig. 2 is calculated, and then it can be determined that the larger the difference, the higher the density.

In step S34, the lane detection unit 15 of the lighting control unit 12a analyzes the image captured with the camera 16, and identifies the traveling lane of the own vehicle.

In step S35, the lighting control unit 12a applies low beams to the area of the driving lane of the host vehicle detected by the lane detection unit 15, and applies high beams to the area of the adjacent lane and the shoulder area adjacent to the driving lane.

In step S36, the illuminance control unit 14 of the lighting control unit 12a controls the illuminance when the LED is turned on. Specifically, the illuminance control unit 14 controls so that the higher the fog concentration is, the higher the illuminance of the LED to the area to which the high beam is applied becomes. Therefore, since the illuminance of the LED is controlled to be turned on higher if the fog density is higher and thus the state of the surrounding environment is more difficult to visually recognize, it becomes possible for the pedestrian(s) passing by the shoulder of the road and the vehicle(s) traveling on the adjacent lane to easily notice the presence of the own vehicle.

In this way, the vehicle lighting control apparatus 101 according to the second embodiment detects the fog concentration, and the higher the fog concentration, the higher the illuminance of the LED turned on for high beam is set advantageously. Therefore, when the fog concentration is relatively high and the visibility is relatively low, light having a higher illuminance can be emitted. Therefore, even when the fog concentration may be high and it is difficult to visually recognize the state of the surrounding environment, the occupant(s) of the other vehicle(s) and the pedestrian(s) walking nearby can effectively recognize the presence of the own vehicle.

As mentioned above, although the vehicle lighting control method and the vehicle lighting control apparatus of the invention have been explained based on the illustrated embodiments, the invention is not limited thereto, and the configuration of each part may be replaced by any configuration having a similar function.

List of reference numerals

11 fog detection unit

12. 12a Lighting control Unit (Lighting control Circuit)

13 light-on/off control unit

14 illuminance control unit

15 lane detection unit

16 camera

21R, 21L headlamp unit

22 ADB

31 first illuminance sensor

32 second illuminance sensor

33 comparison control unit

100. 101 control device

Vs vehicle speed

Claims

1. A vehicle lighting control method of controlling a light distribution of a headlamp mounted in a host vehicle and configured to emit light forward of the host vehicle, the vehicle lighting control method comprising:

determining whether fog occurs around the host vehicle; and

when it is determined that fog is occurring, the light distribution of the headlight to the region on the front face of the own vehicle is set to a low beam, and the light distribution to the region adjacent to the front face of the own vehicle is set to a farther distance than the low beam.

2. The vehicle lighting control method according to claim 1, further comprising

The fog density is determined, and as the fog density becomes higher, the illuminance of the light distribution that has been set to be farther than the low beam is set to be higher.

3. The vehicle lighting control method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising

At least one of a lower limit speed and an upper limit speed of the vehicle is set, and when the vehicle speed of the vehicle is equal to or less than the lower limit speed or equal to or greater than the upper limit speed, a normal light distribution is applied to the vehicle.

4. A vehicular illumination control apparatus configured to control light distribution of an illumination piece mounted in a host vehicle, the vehicular illumination control apparatus comprising

A lighting control circuit configured to set a light distribution to a region of a front face of the own vehicle as a low beam and set a light distribution to a region adjacent to the front face of the own vehicle farther than the low beam when fog has occurred.